


Depth Perception is a Bitch

by scrawly_times



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ana and Fareeha bond later, Ana copes worse than Reinhardt, I'm fixing that, Missing An Eye Is Not Cool And Actually Really Fucking Annoying, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Physical Disability, bcz depth perception is fucking important alright, by projecting onto characters, fuck ceiling fan cords, the sheer number of inaccuracies that happen whenever there's a one eyed character makes me scream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 18:36:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9250574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scrawly_times/pseuds/scrawly_times
Summary: Satya gets annoyed, Fareeha is bemused, and ribbons keep showing up tied to the kitchen ceiling fan(AKA losing an eye is an actual serious disability that causes a lot of daily hassles)





	

**Author's Note:**

> Quick note: I tried finding good translations for "mother" and "daughter" but it proved harder than I thought, so if anyone knows Egyptian Arabic feel free to correct me
> 
> In other news: I know most people don't stop to think about what happens when you lose an eyeball, but it still frustrates me to no end that few people even recognize it as a disability much less show some of what it can affect
> 
> I may also be possibly venting my personal experience and frustration via this fic, because seriously, fuck ceiling fan cords

“ _Ya ummi_ , what are you doing?”

The small _60_ year old woman looked down at her daughter from her precarious spot balancing on her toes on the kitchen counter. Finishing her job with a flourish, Ana tied off the end of a fancy bow made out of ridiculously fluffy material. She hopped down from the counter nimbly and grinned.

“Just tying up loose ends.” Ana grinned, patted Fareeha’s shoulder, and walked out of the kitchen.

Fareeha blinked and looked at the fan. The bow was tied to the pull string and had ridiculously long ties that would fall in the face of anyone walking underneath it.

She shook her head and pinched her nose, resolving to pretend that didn't happen.

* * *

“What is this?” Everyone looked up from their breakfasts to see Symmetra staring in distaste at the ribbon that had smacked her in the face when she walked by. “Why is it hanging in the way where anyone will run into it?”

“I thought it was rather charming.” Reinhardt said with a smile.

“It's totally boring, could use a brighter color.” Hana noted, mouth full of scrambled eggs. “What is that, creamy tan? Gross.”

“Really? I think it's a nice, soft color.” Ana said smoothly, sipping her tea. “Though I see your point.” Her eyepatch for the day was white with an old school band logo on it.

“Whoever did this did not think of others when they did.” The woman huffed, reaching up and trying to reach the fan to untie it. She gave up and went to go grab scissors. “It will only get in the way of anyone who needs to use the kitchen.”

Silent, Ana sipped her tea stolidly as Satya cut the long ribbons away and attempted to pull the remains off the cord. She eventually got Reinhardt to get up and do it for her.

* * *

Fareeha walked into the kitchen to find Satya hissing in a different language, standing on a stool and reaching haphazardly for the ribbon (this time it was blue? Huh, _ummi_ must have changed it) with a pair of scissors.

“What _are_ you doing?” Fareeha said. She felt a little deja vu.

“Whoever it is that keeps putting these ribbons up where they're in the way is inconsiderate and has been very _persistent_ .” Satya gritted her teeth, clearly very aggravated. “This is the ninth ribbon this _week_.”

“You're just huffy because it hits you in the face every time you walk in the kitchen.” Hana rolled her eyes, grabbing a soda from the fridge. “She's been getting _way_ too bothered by this like the person who's doing it is making it a competition or something.” She said to Fareeha seriously. Hana shook her head and smirked when Symmetra glared at her suspiciously. “Look Symmetra, if I was doing this, you'd _know_ it was me.” The popstar strolled out of the room humming the theme song she played when she started her streams.

“...true.” Satya breathed out when she succeeded in pulling the ribbon down. “Perhaps I am getting too riled up by this. It does not change the fact that it's annoying and a disturbance. What if someone is cooking and gets hit in the face and distracted? Distraction in a kitchen can be _dangerous._ ”

Thinking of her mother climbing nimbly up onto the counter just to tie this ribbon, then thinking about it happening every single day as the ribbon kept getting taken down by others, Fareeha did not mention that she knew the culprit. “I'm sure whoever it is means no harm.” She assured Satya.

* * *

Fareeha kept meaning to ask her mother about the ribbon, but it slipped her mind for a few days. It wasn't until Satya spent two weeks struggling against her anonymous aggressor that an actual explanation showed up.

* * *

Dinner was a time of chaos at the Watchpoint. Breakfast was filled with yawns and easy chatter, lunch was eaten by different individuals at different times. Dinner was served when every member of Overwatch had finally washed up (Mercy checked stringently) and showed up in the same room. Tonight, everyone had already gotten their food from the kitchen and were enjoying it with their usual level of chaos.

Ana got up to go make herself a second cup of tea. Then, noticing it was getting hot from the oven and all the bodies, she reached up resignedly and grabbed for the string to turn the fan on.

And missed by about six inches.

At first nobody really noticed, but then Ana reached again and missed. Another swing and she went right below it. A few people had taken note but didn't comment, only watching with confusion. Mercy nodded in sympathetic understanding.

Ana made a noise of extreme frustration after her fifth attempt left her hand still empty. Half the room was watching by now and the other half finally noticed when she moved aside a few dishes and climbed up onto the counter.

“Ana!” Jesse jumped in surprise, obviously worried. “The hell are you doin?”

“Fixing this damn ceiling fan so I can use it.” She snapped, reaching out for the object in question. She was obviously feeling with her hands more than looking where they were supposed to go.

Once Ana found the ceiling fan with her hands, leaning precariously over the edge of the counter, she held onto it with one hand and reached with the other into a pocket. While everyone stayed tense, uneasily watching her look like she'd fall over any minute, she pulled out a long, fuzzy ribbon.

“You?!” Satya sputtered, red in the face, then looked embarrassed at her outburst and flushed further. “Why-? What would you-?!” Angela motioned for Symmetra to stop and watch.

Ana finished tying the bow to the ceiling fan's pull cord and let the long strings drop down. Hopping nimbly off the counter she looked up at the fan and nodded sharply.

Then reached up and waved her arm, running into the long ribbon easily and grabbing it to tug and turn the fan on.

“Depth perception is a bitch.” Ana said calmly, and turned around to go make her cup of tea.

Reinhardt boomed laughter at everyone's clear confusion. “My apologies, Ana! I did not realize you would have a harder time feeling distances out than myself.”

“Of course I wouldn't, considering there's nothing too tall for you to reach.” She sniffed playfully.

“Alright, I'm confused. What the hell.” Lúcio pointed his fork between the two of them.

Torbjörn actually chuckled and spoke up. “Ah good ol’ depth perception. I had to help Reinhardt train to be able to get around with only one eye when he first got blinded by some shrapnel, years and years ago. Us two eyed folk don't really get how tricky it is ta do daily things without both eyeballs.” He laughed. “Swear the big lug walked into so many walls I thought he'd break down the building! A bull in a China shop he was.”

“Losing an eye causes lack of depth perception and sense of 3D, which has several adverse side effects,” Mercy said, still eating calmly. “Including loss of balance, inability to tell distances, and a lot of other small difficulties. I'm surprised none of you have noticed that Ana and Reinhardt have many reflexive coping mechanisms to handle the disability.” She pointed. “Such as attaching an easier to grab object to something otherwise difficult to locate without depth perception.”

“I just thought Reinhardt was touchy feely.” Hana whispered to Genji.

He chuckled. “Same.”

Satya groaned and rubbed her forehead. “And I have just been making it much more difficult for you, by being so obstinate…”

“Oh hush.” Ana stirred her tea with a spoon. “You did not know, and I don't exactly like to talk about it. It took me years to even be able to shoot a gun at a sitting target again.”

“I don't envy you that one bit, Ana.” Reinhardt chuckled sympathetically. “It was hard enough learning to hit things when I could mostly tell how far they were!”

“And not fallin on yer face every time ya took a swing!” Torbjörn chuckled along. The three older members had a good laugh, Mercy smiling.

Ana did not talk about it much after she sat back down with her tea, but Torbjörn seemed determined to tell every funny story about Reinhardt's mess ups that he could remember. The old German was good-natured about it and laughed along with everyone else. He even volunteered a few stories. Ana seemed uncomfortable and shut herself off somewhat whenever they tried asking for her own experiences, so they all let it drop. Most of them didn't know how she'd lost her eye but it was presumably an uncomfortable topic

**Author's Note:**

> I may not be literally missing an eye, but my right eye is still legally blind and lazy. Depth perception is fucking hard, 3D is a mystery I can't solve, and trying to grab things without feeling your way up to them is hard as hell
> 
> Ana is both older and more stubborn than me, so logically it would make sense that she could retrain herself to be a sniper with only one eye but?? That's??? Still not how missing an eye works????? Snipers rely an incredible amount on their ability to tell distances down to a T and without that they're?? Kinda fucked??? Ana confuses me
> 
> Reinhardt makes more sense, because he could very easily remember how much reach his hammer has through muscle memory alone. But still, Blizzard, you do so well and pull a "characters with one eye look cool lol"?? 
> 
> Rant aside I hope you enjoyed! Thanks to some peeps on the Overwatch writer's guild for betaing. I'm on tumblr @ohdearwerescrewed if you wanna hmu!


End file.
